Feb 25, 2014

Guy Carpenter Launches Satellite-Based Catastrophe Evaluation Service

Guy Carpenter & Co., the global risk and reinsurance specialist and member of Marsh & McLennan Companies, has announced the launch of its new satellite-based catastrophe evaluation service, GC CAT-VIEWSM. It has already “started using the service to provide clients affected by the recent UK floods with initial insured loss estimates,” said the bulletin.

The new service “is provided through an exclusive partnership with specialist geo-information services provider Geospatial Insight Limited.” It “analyzes Earth Observation (EO) Satellite and radar imagery, plus footage from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the media and social media, as well as ground-survey data, to produce initial loss estimates.”

Guy Carpenter explained that by using GC CAT-VIEWSM it “has been able to analyze detailed imagery of the areas affected by the recent UK floods to map the flood extent. By overlaying geocoded client risk location data, the team is helping insurers identify which policies have been affected and providing associated potential loss estimates. The data will in the future also be used to prioritize and deploy loss-adjusting capabilities.”

In the future Guy Carpenter said it “will be able to use GC CAT-VIEWSM to conduct rapid loss assessments for other major natural catastrophes. Initial loss estimates based on specific client portfolios can be provided within days of the service being deployed for a particular event.

Nick Frankland, CEO of EMEA operations at Guy Carpenter indicated that the initial work had been carried out with insurers affected by the recent floods. “We are delighted to be able to deploy our new GC CAT-VIEWSM capabilities to assist our clients in quantifying the impact of the worst flooding experienced in the UK since 2007,” he said.

Vic Jenkins, from the newly created International Strategic Advisory team and Head of Analytics for UK, MENA and South Africa at Guy Carpenter, commented: “Previously, establishing a reliable flood extent would have taken a considerable amount of time and required significant expense to compile and verify the necessary data. Using the latest imaging and analysis technology, we can respond quickly to a catastrophe event, providing our clients with robust information to help them plan and respond in a matter of a few days following the deployment of GC CAT-VIEWSM.”